Title: An investigation of the immediate effects of exercise on the human body

Aim: To investigate the immediate effect of exercise on the human body

Apparatus: Tape measure, weighing scale, stopwatch, sphygmomanometer.

Method: The weight, height, waist, and blood pressure was taken for each student and recorded
in a table before the exercise. Students then engaged in 4 minutes of non-stop exercise in which
each minute a different exercise was done. Blood pressure was taken for each student after the
exercise was completed. The blood pressure after the exercise was recorded in that same table.
the Data columns included the Number (No names are used), Waist to height ratio, Body Mass
Index, Percentage change in Pulse and Percentage change in Systolic Blood pressure. It was
noted that specific formulae are required for calculating BMI and WHtR. BMI = weight (kg) ÷
height2 (m2) and WHtR = waist circumference ÷ height (note waist to height ratio is unitless).
The average BMI and WHtR was calculated as well as the average % change in systolic pressure
and pulse.At least two graphs were plotted to show Before and after systolic pressure and before
and after pulse.
 Results: Table1.1 showing data for before and after exercise.

BP
Resting Resting Systolic BP Diastolic
BP BP Pulse After After Change in
No. of Waist WAIST Height HEIGHT Weight Systolic Diastolic before exercise exercise Pulse after change in systolic blood
students (cm) (M) (Cm) (M) (kg) (mmHg) (mmHg) (bpm) ( mmHg) (mmHg ) (bpm) pulse ( % ) pressure ( % ) BMI ( kgm2) WHtR
1 62 0.62 173.9 1.739 55 95 60 86 126 72 166 93.02 32.63 18.19 0.36
2 91.5 0.915 178.5 1.785 83.9 139 76 72 186 77 118 63.89 33.81 26.33 0.51
3 70.9 0.709 179.1 1.791 67 121 73 79 125 71 135 70.89 3.31 20.89 0.40
4 71 0.71 177 1.77 84 155 79 68 175 84 122 79.41 12.90 26.81 0.40
5 66.1 0.661 188.9 1.889 61 128 82 70 147 91 129 84.29 14.84 17.09 0.35
6 78.1 0.781 167.7 1.677 72 116 87 109 150 86 156 43.12 29.31 25.60 0.47
7 65 0.65 162.1 1.621 65 108 66 79 112 62 125 58.23 3.70 24.74 0.40
8 72.5 0.725 156.6 1.566 65 123 72 91 151 87 143 57.14 22.76 26.51 0.46
9 73.3 0.733 159.4 1.594 69 106 67 63 137 71 149 136.51 29.25 27.16 0.46
10 64 0.64 173.9 1.739 55 94 61 97 125 65 153 57.73 32.98 18.19 0.37
11 58 0.58 158.9 1.589 42 110 68 70 150 67 162 131.43 36.36 16.63 0.37
12 63.3 0.633 158 1.58 49.9 128 80 84 127 81 171 103.57 -0.78 19.99 0.40
13 61.5 0.615 181.1 1.811 56 122 73 78 141 74 141 80.77 15.57 17.07 0.34
14 62.3 0.623 171 1.71 54 101 61 84 127 73 145 72.62 25.74 18.47 0.36
15 67.7 0.677 173.1 1.731 62 117 73 103 124 69 130 26.21 5.98 20.69 0.39
16 76.1 0.761 176.7 1.767 73 120 86 81 165 86 163 101.23 37.50 23.38 0.43
17 77.5 0.775 183 1.83 85 112 80 70 148 59 125 78.57 32.14 25.38 0.42
18 62 0.62 165.5 1.655 47 101 60 85 115 71 115 35.29 13.86 17.16 0.37
19 61.6 0.616 169.6 1.696 47 111 62 75 158 69 142 89.33 42.34 16.34 0.36
20 87.1 0.871 176.7 1.767 99 132 83 86 160 106 151 75.58 21.21 31.71 0.49
21 80.7 0.807 161.3 1.613 81 113 73 90 132 74 174 93.33 16.81 31.13 0.50
22 62 0.62 165.1 1.651 43 111 81 84 127 58 162 92.86 14.41 15.78 0.38
23 72.5 0.725 171.6 1.716 64 126 72 90 166 62 154 71.11 31.75 21.73 0.42
24 77.5 0.775 183 1.83 81 142 94 72 166 117 174 141.67 16.90 24.19 0.42
25 65.1 0.651 158.6 1.586 56 101 63 75 130 65 145 93.33 28.71 22.26 0.41
26 65.6 0.656 181.1 1.811 62 124 61 70 136 57 159 127.14 9.68 18.90 0.36
average = 83.01 21.68 22.01 0.41

Table 1.2 showing observations as to changes in the body after exercise

Before exercise After Exercise

No sweat A lot of sweat
No pain Pain in certain areas , especially feet
normal breathing Excessive and rapid breathing
Heart beats at a normal rate Rapid in crease of heatbeat
Low Blood pressure high Blood pressure
 Sample calculations

BMI= weight (kg) / heaight2 (m2)

Student number 1 – Bmi = 55 kg / 1.7392 = 18.19 kgm2

WHtR = WAIST / HEIGHT

0.915 / 1.785 = 0.51

Systolic pressure = (final –initial)/initial * 100

(126 – 95) / 95 * 100 = 32.63 %

 Systolic pressure before and after exercise
350 186 175
166
160 166

Systolic pressure ( mmHg)

147150 151 165
300 141
150127 148 158 136
125 137 132127
127124 130
250 126 112 125 115
200 155
139 132 142
150 121 128116108123 128 126
110 122101117120112101111 113111 124
95 10694 101
100
50 0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Num. of students

Resting BP Systolic (mmHg) BP Systolic After exercise ( mmHg)

Graph 2.0 showing systolic pressure before and after exercise

Pulse before and after exercise

300 156 174
166 153 171
143 162 130163
145 151 162154174 159
250 135 141 142 145
125 149 125115
118 122129
Pulse ( bpm )

200

150 109
91 97 103
86
72 68 70 79
79 84 78 84 81 85 75 86 90 84 90 72 75
100 63 70 70 70

50
0
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27
Num. of students

Pulse before (bpm) Pulse after (bpm)

Graph 2.0 showing pulse before and after exercise

Discussion:

Exercise is physical activity that is planned, structured, and repetitive for the purpose of conditio

ning any part of the body.Exercise is used to improve health, maintain fitness and is important as

a means of physical rehabilitation.

Exercise is

useful in preventing or treating coronary heart disease, osteoporosis, weakness, diabetes, obesity,

anddepression. Range of motion is one aspect of exercise important for increasing or maintainin

g joint function. Strengtheningexercises provide appropriate resistance to the muscles to increase

endurance and strength. Cardiac rehabilitation exercisesare developed and individualized to imp

rove the cardiovascular system for prevention and rehabilitation of cardiac disorders

and diseases. A wellbalanced exercise program can improve general health, build endurance, and

slow many of the effectsof aging.

After exercise the exercise it was noticed that the heart rate increased, this was so because the

heart needed to more blood to the muscles to carry out the exercise. Breathing increased so that

Oxygen can be inhaled because chemical reactions require Atp and oxygen is consumed to create

atp . Also the body needs to get rid of metabolic waste such as lactic acid and carbon dioxide that

the chemical reactions generate. Sweating increases because as the muscle works the body

begins to heat up and to prevent the body from overheating sweating occurs to create a cooling

effect on the body. The reason why systolic blood pressure and pulse increased was because as

the body was going through exercise the body pumped more blood to the muscles, which means

that more blood at a high pressure was flowing the blood vessels of the body. Diastolic pressure

was considered because it is the amount of pressure in your arteries between beats. It does not

give a measure of the actual pressure of blood in each beat. As the pressure between and during
the beat is significantly distinguished. As opposed to systolic pressure there was little increase in

the pressure and there are some cases where the pressure actually decreased after exercise. So

this doesn’t give a clear account on the effect exercise has on the body. Bmi and whtr has

significant impact on blood pressure, as BMI increases blood pressure increases, the higher the

bmi the more weight and the more pressure is put on the heart causing an increase as weight is

placed on arteries squeezing them causing pressure to increase. A relationship between WHtR

and pulse and pressure by the use of a graph comparing the effect of whtr on pulse and systolic

pressure. If the study was divided into athletes and non-athletes the difference may be significant

as how much your blood pressure changes during exercise correlates with your fitness level and

health status. The athletes will be more fit and accustomed to exercise so depending on the

intensity of the exercise there may be little increase in pressure, as opposed to non-athletes who

may have a high bmi and is unaccustomed to exercise, more pressure will be place on the heart

to pump blood. If the study was between males and females, the males will generally have lower

pressure changes as they are more physical and fitter than females and they also have a lower

acceptable range of bmi than females ,25-30 and 27-30 respectively.

Errors/ limitation; Parallax error when recording height and waist length of persons. Taking too

long to test pressure after exercise which may have caused in decrease in the blood pressure.

Calculation errors when finding bmi and whtr etc.

Conclusion: The experiment has shown that exercise does has immediate effect on the body. As

the intensity of the exercise increases, blood pressure increases. The average BMI ,WHTtR , %

change in systolic pressure and pulse were ; 22.01 kgm2 , 0.41, 21.68 % and 83.01 %

respectively.